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Heard what i thought was bearing noise and took the car back to the dealer, after keeping the car for 2 days and supplying a ford Puma shed courtesy car I was informed the back tyres were stepped. I have never heard of this before and wondered f this was caused by underlying issues that need to be addressed. The tight dealer fitted some crappy part worn tyres that I will replace ASAP but will I need to get the telemetry looked at before splashing out some premium tyres?, I wouldn't feel comfortable trusting a car capable of 140 MPH ish with German cast off's, any advice please? Thanks, Paul.

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It's pretty common. Just Google "sawtooth + tyres". Also it's not a cheap or easy fix to reset the rear wheel geometry. Now I just swap my rear wheels over every 6 months so they rotate in the opposite direction. Just make sure that they are not directional tyres.

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thanks for the reply, cost shouldn't be an issue as car is covered by dealer's warranty, wonder how it got through the MOT 2 weeks ago though????? going to have the tracking checked by a Saab specialist when my seat sensor gets sorted, could be the top arm according to other posts. will need new tyres but will have this issue sorted first.:thumbsup:

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As far as the dealers warranty is concerned tyres are a wear and Tare item , and as long as the tyres were legal at the time if the mot then it would of past , but if they were on the low side then would of been put as an advisory to cover there own butt !
Is that dealer warranty just a standard 3 months ?

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It's not something that's obvious or easy to spot. It can take several thousand miles on new tyres before you would even start to notice the noise building up or any visual changes. I took my car to a main dealer and they didn't seem keen on trying to fix it. In the end I decided it was easier just to swap the tyres around a couple of times a year.

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My first port of call here, would be get the car Hunter aligned. Prices for Hunter wheel alignment can vary wildly, from £25 just to do the front tracking/toe angles, to around £75 for the whole lot to be done, though from what I can gather, there are some places that will charge over £100 to do a full Hunter alignment, which seems kind of crazy. Believe it or not, some of the best places to get proper wheel alignment done, are crash repair/bodyshop places who do wheel alignments day in day out as part of returning damaged vehicles back on the road.

I had a full Hunter wheel alignment done in March last year and my back end was well out, especially the rear nearside. The front was out too as about 18 months before, I'd replaced the front struts/coils and droplinks. The whole alignment cost me £60. The ahh, Technician, had a helluva job trying to get it within specs and almost managed it perfect, but it was still about 1 degree negative on the rear nearside, everything else was spot on.

I haven't had any more issues, though I have just last Thursday, had the front wheels re-tracked on a Hunter because I replaced the tie rod arms. I'm currently doing a 500 mile round trip, did 235 miles yesterday and it's as straight as a die.

Depending on the cars mileage, I would agree with above. Possibly worn banana arms or rear control arms or toe links.

I have directional tyres on my car, but I regularly swap the backs to the front and vice versa, obviously ensuring I just move the same sides back and forth to keep the correct directional pattern.

Personally, I'd never put part worn tyres on my own car, you have absolutely no idea where they've come from or whether or not the vehicle they came off was involved in an accident. I realise this wasn't your choice. Personally, I think it's a bloody cheek putting them on without consulting you first.

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A further question;how often should the wheels be aligned ? If I get my alloys refurbished and there may be one or two nicks on the inside not visible will this generate an alignment requirement? Thanks!

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It should not require alignment if just a wheel refurbishment, but if you do as I do sometimes and bump against a curb then that can start to take the Alingment out of the required settings .
So I get mine done every year , just to make sure everything is ok .
But if you do any work on the sterring or suspension wether front or rear , then get it checked and adjusted as a matter of course .

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A further question;how often should the wheels be aligned ? If I get my alloys refurbished and there may be one or two nicks on the inside not visible will this generate an alignment requirement? Thanks!

Believe it or not, there are people within the tyre industry who will tell you that you should have your alignment checked every 3 months. Ok, tyre shops will set you up on the gear and check free of charge, but unless you are regularly driving on rough tracks, then 3 monthly checks is just overkill. Annually, yeah, nothing wrong with that and most certainly, if you were considering re-shoeing, whether it be just the front end or the back end or all round, I would get the alignment checked prior to shelling out for new rubber.

It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to put brand new rubber on the car without checking the alignment is ok first. But, as always, it's a cost driven matter. Doesn't matter a jot to some people that they can spend £100 plus on a brand new tyre and it gets destroyed within a few months because the alignment is out, but you try getting them to fork out £70 for a wheel alignment! It's not entirely their fault though, most of it is just down to ignorance and when a decent tyre shop recommends an alignment check prior to fitting new tyres, folks just think they're going to be ripped off. It's a bit unfair to the tyre shops sometimes, they're just trying to be helpful and possibly save you a few quid in the long run.

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I have emailed the dealer regarding the part worn tyres that have cracking sidewalls, said he had no idea!!! will get the tyres changed anyway just didn't want to waste money on new tyres that would tear up anyway. will have to investigate further but thanks for the info, really helpful.Paul.:thumbsup:

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Thanks for that, this is the first car I have paid decent money for and have never heard of this problem, I suppose I expected from the dealer but will book car in for a full check at a Saab specialist, got to have seat sensor in passenger seat sorted, was returned to dealer for this to be rectified but the 'GARAGE' he used just disconnected the sensor under the seat, the dealer has said he will pay for proper repair if I book it in, will have telemetry checked and also diagnostic whilst there I think, I know I should have done all these checks before but I was assured the faults would be sorted and thought they would be covered by warranty anyway. I thought the tyre rumbling was a bearing gone somewhere.

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dealer warranty is 3 months but will be looking to extend it independently for the first year or so, I know tyres are a wear and tear item but the dealer said if it is the upper arm, that will be covered but will need a report :thumbsup:so will have everything checked before I buy new tyres for the car.

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I have emailed the dealer regarding the part worn tyres that have cracking sidewalls, said he had no idea!!! will get the tyres changed anyway just didn't want to waste money on new tyres that would tear up anyway. will have to investigate further but thanks for the info, really helpful.Paul.:thumbsup:

Another thing many owners aren't aware of, is tyre age. Stamped on the sidewall of every tyre, is an oblong box with the week number of production, and the year of manufacture. One of my neighbours was recently telling me that he'd got two part worn tyres on his car which he'd paid £20 each for, around 6mm of tread on each one and he showed me his pair of 'bargain tyres'. Great I said, until I pointed out the tyre date. They were both 10 years old and had crazing on the sidewalls. 'Rather you than me', I told him, and reminded him that when he's next bombing down the M1 at 80mph with the wife and kids onboard, perhaps he should think about his 'amazing value' purchase when they blow out and spill everyone out onto the carriageway.

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The tyres he put on are both different brands, one is a uniroyal and the other a brand i haven't heard of, nothing against fitting the budget option tyres because some have decent reviews on here, the tyre walls are aged quite badly and have small cracks on them, My previous car was a 15 year old Mondeo and I used part worns on that but wasn't keen to do it on my 2011 Saab 93. I think they only put the tyres on to confirm they were making the noise despite an earlier call from the dealer confirming back bearing issue. I only use the car to commute to work at the moment but will be doing longer journeys after my hols. have booked into a local recommended garage for Hunter wheel alignment check, will update if you're interested once checked and hopefully rectified .:thumbsup:

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I'm not going to slam used car sales places ( but brought a car from one and as soon as he had my money in his hand , his attitude changed from one that could not do enough , to one that really did not give a F**K )
And the 3 month warranty Is law as trading standards are concerned . Extended warrantys are handed out like confetti , so any big problem ( gearbox engine ) they can claim on your "1 years super dooper cover everything except what's in the small print and of course the claim limit will not cover the full cost "type warranty .so really they can sell you a car with an underlying problem which they may know of that you may put down to it being different from your last car , but over the year it becomes an expensive problem .
With me in the end I washed my hands with him , got the work done by a Fiat dealer ( being my partners 500)
And took him to the small claims court and won !
The car had 3 tyres nearly down to minimum
Both brake cylinders leaking and contaminated the shoes ,
DPF light on ,came on after taking the car home , it was due to the selling garage just stop starting it on his forecourt . 1 leaking injector .
And it had supposedly been MOTed
By his local garage ( he used the same forecourt as them , and they did not look very welcoming)
So I knew if I took it back there it would end up in there dodgy workshop ! .
I know some people have good used car places , but I find that we are only lining there pockets at the end of the day and they look at customers as pound signs !
As soon as somebody brings a car back they know the law is in our hands so they have to act , but what ever the problem is , is going to eat into the funds of there next holiday , so they scrimp a bit !
SORRY IF I HAVE OFFENDED ANYONE
RANT OVER !
PS those extended warrantys that you can by look good , but what it don't cover and none of them do as far as I kniw is the turbo !

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fact that the tyres are cracking would have been flagged up on the mot also the upper cross stay arms would have flagged up also if they were that bad,as to cause the inside of the rear tyre to wear(any photos of said tyres)..check the manufacturing date code of the tyre(on the sidewall)..

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